Mounting it all to the grille I hope will mean it can always be moved forward with the grille for any time extra room is needed without disconecting everything. Only three bolts each side hole the grille in place.

CJ grille is similar with 3 bolts each side, but it has a central rubber mount that comes off the front xmember, this supports the weight, it also has 2 10mm dia Rod stays that come off the fire wall. This works well for me, because I can take the bonnet off, and both front guards, and still run and even drive it!

CJ grille is similar with 3 bolts each side, but it has a central rubber mount that comes off the front xmember, this supports the weight, it also has 2 10mm dia Rod stays that come off the fire wall. This works well for me, because I can take the bonnet off, and both front guards, and still run and even drive it!

Stock on the truck is exactly the same but will be changing mine to a mount under each corner like the MB's had to stabilize things a bit more.

Fixing up this welded up crack in the other guard. The other side was fine but they are prone to cracking here, so will cut it out rather than just smooth this old weld out.

Traced the curve and then added the lip width to it and then cut along that line before any shaping took place. You don't want to work with more material than needed when bending in a tight radius. Once the fold is hammered along the line with a high crown hammer to about 45*, I switch to this hammer I got from Peter Tommasini to finish off the folding into the inside corner.

Checking against the corner being replaced before it is cut out makes sure you keep the radius the same.

Outside edge shaped to fit and corners rounded before I then scribe around the patch to cut out the bad section underneath.

Welded into place making sure I had full penetration. If any of the join on the inside is still visible, I weld over it before any grinding has taken place. This means you are welding with the full weld depth on the outside stopping blow through.

Using a grinding disc with some pressure to get some heat into the weld to anneal it some, helps prevent cracking I have found. Take it down to razor blade thickness inside and out. Then hammer on dolly to stretch the weld back to flat. Then sand to flush before hitting it with a strip disc

This side had pitting and some small spots rusted through. This section bolts under the cowl. If the windscreen leaks at all it ends up caught inside the bottom of the cowl until one day it rusts all the way through and onto this area. No drain hole from the factory so I made sure it has one now when I remade the bottom of the cowl.

Rather than make a lot of little repairs I just replaced the whole section. Folded it first and then stretched the flange to get it to curve. Some more shaping over the anvil and stake dollies to get it to sit flat.

Traced the factory mounting holes and cut them out exactly the same. They look strangely aligned but they point along the centeline of the cab.

Put the other guard in place to check the look of the changed front curve making it the 40mm-1.5" longer. Think it works well and the first time in 7 years since the guard was last in place!

This angle makes the guard look longer than it really is, but fits in with the longer cab.

awesome gojeep really taking shape now, with 2 mounts under the grille will stiffen the front up, but, I'm thinking if you are going to wheel it 1 mount in the middle, just lets it move rather than fixing it and stressing it up as the chassis flexes, ultimately y ou've thought about it, and you know what you want to do with it, just love your work get a real kick from your progress, it's a monumental project.....

Awesome project I've been following since it started, at the biginning I was following it on cardomain.com and after they changed their layouts (to the worse unfortunately) I joined in to this forum to follow up the build.

awesome gojeep really taking shape now, with 2 mounts under the grille will stiffen the front up, but, I'm thinking if you are going to wheel it 1 mount in the middle, just lets it move rather than fixing it and stressing it up as the chassis flexes, ultimately y ou've thought about it, and you know what you want to do with it, just love your work get a real kick from your progress, it's a monumental project.....

Not just boxing on the rails but every cross member which was made 50% wider as well as being boxed. Plus a whole engine cradle will make it stiff enough for the double mount at the front. It will replace the XJ once it is finished and take over the towing of the camper on touring and camping duties rather than any hard core offroading. Would have started with a JK had that been my plans for this build to keep solid axles front and rear. Just don't do that sort of offroading anymore as been offroading for 35 years! Gee that makes me feel old all of a sudden.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gcosmo

Awesome project I've been following since it started, at the biginning I was following it on cardomain.com and after they changed their layouts (to the worse unfortunately) I joined in to this forum to follow up the build.

Keep up the good work Marcus and keep the updates flowing, Great Job

Glad you went to the trouble of following it here as a real shame what happened there after it was sold off to the magazine company. Don't think they liked the competition!

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